jewelry holder

At the same time that we reinvented the guest room as a playroom, we decided to reorganize the bathroom. That might seems strange, but we have this rather large chest of drawers that comes from Sam's family, and I was thinking it might be a more effective way to house our linens, towels and other goodies than the mixture of small, ineffective, slatted shelving unit and a small, ineffective shelving unit with drawer. We moved those out, but in doing so, we had to throw out, reevaluate each item. I actually love doing this, so you know...once everything was out, it looked strange, like we had a chest of drawers and had no idea what to do with it, so we stuck it in the bathroom.

We still don't know what to do with that chest of drawers, incidentally. It is sitting in our dining room. Yay.

During my organizing, I had a pile of jewelry, and honestly, I have a jewelry organizing station upstairs in my closet, but I use the downstairs all day, and usually want to put my finishing touches on there. I hit our cluttered and treasure-rich basement.

My eyes fell on an old dry erase board we used to use in our kitchen. Sam, unfortunately, wrote on it with Sharpie. Yeah. I used a glue gun and covered the board itself with scraps of linen. Then I screwed hooks into the frame on one side. On the other side, I ripped off a piece of old screen and stapled it to the frame.

And I had a jewelry holder.

I like that there is a pen lip on this. I can rest those pieces that can't hang. We also took out one of the shelves, the slatted one, because ay, I found so many things under that damnable piece. That shelf is going to the front porch growing area I am beginning in the next few weeks. (When the carpenter leaves our home.) It definitely gives the space more space. I replaced the art with two pieces by Jen Singer called Good Manners, they say, "No, thank you." And "Yes, please." And then one of those subway art pieces about manners. I actually bought all these good manners pieces and had no idea where I was going to hang them, which was a little silly. But I like the way it turned out, for not changing very much.

playroom

The reason I haven't been posting on this blog is because I have been crafting, redecorating, and creating around the ranch. I don't really have a ranch. I live in a small town in New Jersey, but you know...

Last weekend, my husband and I decided to break our guest room down and turn it into a playroom for the kids. They share a room, and all their toys, clothes and crap was shoved into the smallest room in the house. We have guests maybe once every two months, so we just pulled the trigger. We also decided to break down part of the studio and create a sewing space for me, since I just bought a sewing machine. (And am learning little projects here and there.) My baker's racks in the studio then went on the front porch, as well as a useless shelving unit from the bathroom, and that is being turned into an indoor garden area. All in all, it had meant our house is in flux.

I stupidly did not take pictures of the guest room filled, but I did after we emptied the room. So, this is before from the door (left) and the after (right)

We moved a ReStore (ReStore is the Habitat for Humanity thrift shop.) We had too much furniture in the living room. We moved in a bookshelf from the kids room. Hung some maps and hung the letters Beezus is making in pre-K with items that start with that letter (B is made of Beans, for example.)

Before diagonally  across from the door:

After:

Play kitchen, music basket, baby bed, meditation cushions, and Sam built custom shelving across the entire wall with window and we filled it with games, puzzles, toys and books. On top of the shelves is the new nature table/altar. We took that down around Christmas, because everything was so cluttered and couldn't find a new space for it, so I am most excited about that.

Before:

This is the right corner. We added a table, the day of the week/weather board. They have a little table and chairs, our button heart, and a gnome growth chart. The closet is filled with costumes and adult games.

All in all, I cannot believe we lived without a playroom for so long. It feels absolutely natural to have this space here. A whole room is valuable real estate, and we need it for the kids. It also means their room is so much less cluttered and less chaotic.

So grateful for this project. We also have a dedicated area for meditation now. And we have been group meditating every day since we rearranged the space. I have quite a few projects in the pipeline to share this week, so you might be hearing from me a lot.

art table

I am constantly trying to make our studio space more efficient, because it does triple duty--computer/writing room, art studio and kids' art space. I have a table for my creations with two chairs. A desk for writing. I have four shelves in there to store art supplies, books and toys. I have an easel that folds up and stores in the corner, as well as a stool to use with that easel. And for the kids, I was using Melissa and Doug's kid easel. One side is dry erase board/paper roll holder and the other a chalk board. It worked great for a long time, but Thor had begun taking it apart, unscrewing the screws, hiding them in small spaces. So, it was falling apart basically. And Beezus and Thor argued about who got what side. The paper roll was the medium of choice for them, so lots of shoving and pinching in the name of art.

I finally just put the easel downstairs. THAT'S IT! BASTA YA, MIJOS!

But what to do for the kids? I moved their itty bitty table to their room for art, which they love. And they use it as a table to play restaurant, teacher, tea party...it is too good up there. After our Open House, I had an old table upstairs. This table, actually, is a perennial favorite of mine. I bought it at a second hand shop for thirty bucks. It was an old diner table that someone painted red/orange. I used it as my kitchen table when I lived in the city. Sam and I brought it up from the basement for the party (dessert table.) Anyway, it was sitting in my dining room for a week or so. Too heavy to carry downstairs alone. I was drinking tea, sitting on the floor on the dining room with the kids, and I started cocking my head to the side. Yes, that would be perfect.

See, I love this table at Container Store, and so do the kids. Every time we go there, they want to just sit at it and pretend they are making art. I am not spending almost four hundred dollars on a table for art making. Not when I can create it myself. See, the downside and benefit of this table I have is that it was once a diner table, so it is a pedestal. When I used it to create art, I would lean on the table, and one side would come up, but the kids are not strong enough to do that. So, I bought a new roll of paper, tied a string around it, and created our own art table. I also had two wooden high chairs that I bought for the kids at flea markets, which they sometimes use for dining chairs. They are the perfect height for the kids to use.

The pedestal leaves the ends available to hang the paper roll.

I also had this old wrapping paper cutter, which you put under the paper and just move across, so it cuts it. It works perfectly for this paper roll, and the kids can't cut themselves on it. Looks like Sam was doing some calculations on it himself, probably calculations about how much wood he scavenged this weekend. (880 lbs of it.)

In the end, it was a great way to use this fabulous table, the kids love it, and actually share the space really well.

 I think I will eventually tweak the design to hold the roll by drilling two holes into the opposing sides of the table, and hanging the string/twine on each side. Right now, I have to untie the string to change the roll. Not a big deal, but eventually, it would be nice to just slide one roll off and put the other on. I should also mention that I am use the dowel from the M&D easel, which has a hole on each side, the string is strung through those holes, and then loops around the table. It stays quite nicely. This project basically cost me the price of the paper roll.

Love to all.

wooden anniversary

The first of September was my fifth wedding anniversary. I definitely hit the lottery with my hunky, funny, cool husband. My husband and I decided to go away without the children for the first time, well, ever. I actually was fine with it, emotionally. I guess that was surprising even for me. The kids did great. I know my mother loved watching the children over night, and I loved reconnecting with my husband. We went to Lambertville, NJ, which is on the Delaware River across from New Hope, PA. There are lots of little antique stores and interior design places there. There is also an awesome flea market, right up the canal path that runs along the river. The canal path is fit for biking, walking, whatever. We took our bikes to get some riding in. The first morning we woke up in Lambertville, we rode to the flea market. It was awesome.

We are really low-key people. We don't buy each other gifts for anniversaries or Valentine's Day. We try to spend time together. But he always sends me flowers on our anniversary and my birthday, because I love getting flowers. The whole thing with the stranger coming to my door, the note to open, the arrangement, the fresh flowers on my table for a week. All of it I love. He did that, because he is wonderful. But when we get gifts for anniversaries, we try to shop together for something for our family. Our feeling about it is that the two of us working together for our marriage is what is to be celebrated.


For the fifth anniversary, the traditional gift is wood. I think our first anniversary, we bought a painting, since it was the gift of paper. My husband and I talked about it and decided to try to find something wood at the flea market and antique shops we poked around this weekend. We bought a few things--an antique side table and lamp (see the picture on the left, sorry about the weird window glare.)

But what I wanted to blog about was my favorite purchase which was an old printer's drawer. You can find them at flea markets and antique shops pretty easily. I had seen them around and always thought it would look cool hanging on a wall as a kind of curio box. I had thought that in passing, but never planned it out. But then, there we were in front of two gorgeous printer's drawers at the flea market. And I said, "What if we hang it above the fireplace?" And Sam nodded and couldn't visualize it and I said "Trust me. This is exactly the look we are going for." And he trusted me. See, printing for me as a writer, and Sam's father owned a print shop, so it is double meaningful for us. I had been trying desperately to find something for above the fire place. I could just absolutely visualize it. We rode back to Lamberville, my husband rode one armed as he held the printer's drawer.

This is the other thing, I love little things, and I have no where to put them. So, I filled the containers with things that represent our family--coins from Panama, Italy and New Zealand. I put the tickets to Sam and my first opera together and another ticket from our first concert together--Sigur Ros. There is the nest I needlefelted, and a perfume jar from Budapest, where Sam's sister lived when we first met. There is an artist's model. There is a pin from the 60s that says "Wages for Housework." Ines' carved wood block for Lucy. There are shells from Carly and some from Sam's father. Snail shells we found in our backyard, a metal medallion from Thailand. A naval pin from my father. There is a lighter from China that has Mao Tse Tung. And a little wooden peg person I painted of Sam, and one of Lucy. There is a pencil from Oregon Lanes, the now closed bowling alley in South Philly. There are religious medals of St. Lucy from Karen in British Columbia. Candles we made. There is a piece of sushi I made out of polymer clay. There are acorns we collected last autumn. And a cameo my grandmother gave me. There is a magnet from Esposito's Meats in South Philly, which was very near Sam and my first apartment. There is a worry doll and a button my sister made, and I just ordered a few terrariums in thimbles to add to it. Each of these things adds up to the story of our family.

This project was so friggin' easy and inexpensive. The drawer itself was only twenty-five dollars, and the little things I have been collecting for years. When we got home, Beezus and I went room to room searching for little meaningful things we loved that might fit in the odd shapes spaces where old printing plates once lived. It is the most personal, wonderful anniversary gift we could have given ourselves. And the best part of it is that it is exactly the look I wanted for above the fireplace. Earthy and funky and totally about our family.

Monday. 01.18.10 and Tuesday. 01.19.10

This is a sort of before look at my studio space. I realize that I have no larger pictures of the room, without my nekkid daughter in them. *sigh*. So, you can see the corner of the existing bookcase, and our red couch, which has been removed. The large cubbie bookcase is out, as is another one which lined that wall.

After: This is where the red couch was and again, the corner of the bookcase, albeit the other corner. I am getting rid of most of my fiction and travel writing books. It was a hard decision to come to, but one that I think will ultimately be liberating.

Bins of arts and crafts stuff, and Beatrice's little orange table is behind my table. Everything is starting out organized and colorized and in its right place. We can talk next week.

Beatrice took this picture from her little pink arm chair, which now resides between the bookcase and my art table. I made sure there was a bit of space for her to relax, read and watch a movie while I work, since she often takes breaks here and there when she crafts. Jack the dog is making sure the backyard is secure from squirrels. Go dog Go.

I reorganized my little things drawers, and filled them with useful little things, rather than annoying clutter. What a joy. What I love most about this project is that I didn't buy anything, I merely rearranged my existing furniture and art studio, which was on the three-season front porch, which is really kind of two and a half seasons, since summer gets a bit too warm and winter a bit too cold with no heating or AC out there, so I end up not using much of the space and taking over the dining room.

It is interesting when you start pulling out scattered art gear from every corner of your house. You might find, for example, that you have five bottles of children's white paint, or four of orange. At least, I will not purchase paint for another few days.









So, this has been my project for the last two days, creating an art studio for my daughter and I. Maybe will I tag this as interior design, or mental health work. I am very pleased with the space and the accessibility of everything. I am already inspired to create more, and so is Beatrice, who notices her art gear and wants to use it. YAY!